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Thirteen

Thirteen years ago, I sat down at an enormous computer in our dining room (we kept it there so we could supervise the kids internet access) with an HTML cheat sheet ( <oldschool>) and sat there for hours trying to figure out how to get a blog post up. Ken had set the whole thing up as a gift, and I was determined to get the hang of it. It took hours. Hours and hours, and there wasn’t even a picture.

This afternoon, I sat down at a tiny laptop in an airport lounge to write to you for what is the 2337th time (that is the actual number) and it’s taking a long time, but mostly because this day always makes me feel sappy and sentimental and grateful and that’s so much to put into words. A very great deal has changed over the last 13 years – through all of it, no matter how weird it’s gotten, you’ve been a constant. You know that we call you The Blog. I’ve written about that before – how we’ll say “oh, have you told The Blog” or “What did The Blog say?” or even “I can’t wait to tell The Blog about this.” You are a constant presence in our lives, a large and undefined mass that influences and encourages me and this family. When I started doing this, our children were young, young enough that I decided what their internet presence would be, what i would tell you about them, when I would tell it. I sat down at this computer often with a story or an idea in mind, something that had happened inside our family or our home, and I’d type the whole thing up, and then hover my finger over the “post” button as I re-read it, imagining myself as my child, years down the road, reading their follies laid out. Would they want it there? Would they want it shared with the world? I deleted whole entries some days. Ones that were finished with (incriminating) pictures and opinions and maternal grief or strife. Just typed them up, realized that the fight I had with my teenager – or whatever, that while we all fight with our teenagers and it’s normal and lonely and horrible, but didn’t need to be anywhere near the internet, no matter how ridiculous it had been and then posted something about socks instead.

Back then, I was the final arbiter of how much our family’s face was public, and I hope I got it right. I think I did, because there are still conversations about interacting with The Blog, and what we’ll share with The Blog and nobody’s ever demanded that I take down a post. (Not even when they were completely demented teenagers and demanded just about everything else.) Instead, you all remain welcome in our lives and in our family and one of the most lovely conversations I’ve ever had in my life was when Megan professed that she couldn’t wait for The Blog to find out that she was expecting and I was going to be a grandmother. Now that you’ve been around so long, we all think of The Blog.

All of that has been remarkable, and fantastic, and epic – the part of you that is always here, inside what Joe cheerfully refers to as “The Interknit”, but there is another side to The Blog that I don’t know you all realize. The Blog sometimes happens (as my young friend likes to say) IN REAL LIFE. It happened this weekend, as I skiied down the bottom of a mountain in Alberta, and heard my name called from behind, and lo- a friendly knitter bore down on me. (Hi Kim!) It happened last night at a concert in Calgary, when we walked up to someone who worked there, and she was all “Stephanie? Joe?” (Hi Jocelyn!) It has happened in airports, at baseball games, in restaurants, and while it’s occasionally surprising, it’s always amazing.

I hope that you all feel what I do when you come to this page. A sense of camaraderie, of belonging, a sense of community that is reassuring and normalizing, a place where the ethics and values that we hold dear – that making things is important, that creation is human, that love can be contained and transferred in handmade things, that knitting and creating and transforming are important parts of who we are… all those things are vital. I feel them and I feel like you do and I feel less lonely because you are here. I feel better because you are also IN REAL LIFE, and I love it when the things we do and make ripples outside of our little Interknit.

This last weekend, knitting played a very visible role in the March for Women – and someone said to me that it was amazing to see how important knitters were in it. That the hats they knit were visible – obvious. There weren’t three of them, there were hundreds of thousands of hats and they were in every shot and no matter what your political stripe, I find it hard to believe that any knitter can look at those pictures, with all those hats (it was so many) and not feel a pang of knitterly pride. It is our community – it is the thing that we all feel, writ large for the world to see. Someone told me that, and then she added “for once” like it was the first time that our community could make a change like that.

I didn’t say anything, because she was having an awesome moment, but I want you to know that I didn’t believe her for a moment that “for once” applied. She must have not seen what you guys did for Knitters without Borders. She must have not been here to see how amazing that was. She must have not seen what you’ve done for the Bike Rally. Maybe she wasn’t here last year when so many of you donated $12 dollars for my 12th anniversary – a dollar for every year of The Blog. (If you wanted to go for $13 this year, the link is here. It was loads of fun to watch PWA try to figure out the significance of $12 and I think that $13 is even weirder.) I know that the hat thing was big, and it was amazing, and I was impressed but I want you to know that I’ve known this about you for a long time. You’ve shown it to me so many times over the last 13 years.

You are amazing. You matter. You make a difference in my life, and in the world around you. You are an important person, and you are legion.

Thank you for every moment of the last 13 years. Thank you for the comments you leave, thank you for the mail you send me. Thank you for sending me tiny sock garland, or bitty hats knit for my Christmas tree. Thank you for calling out to me on the ski slopes, thank you for greeting me warmly in a city that’s not my own. Thank you for grieving with our family when things have been bad, and for celebrating with us when things are beautiful. Thanks for bringing me an apple or a beer when I’m on the road. Thank you for knowing who Tupper was. Thank you for wanting to show me who your Tupper was. Thanks for wondering if I’ll ever finish the gansey. Thanks for caring about my kids, for saying hi to them in person when you see them. It connects them with a bigger world that we all need reminding is there.

In short, thank you for everything, and I can’t wait for the next thirteen.

Happy, happy anniversary! Stephanie: you cannot imagine how your blog have been influenced my life in all senses. Your family, your humour, your thouhgts and of course your knitting. I read your blog since 2011, until now I always learn something from you.
Thank you, this world needs people like you, never change, please! Happy anniversary and long life to the Blog! yeah!.

Oh Stephanie, I love being a small piece of the blog. I found you early in my knitting time, eager to learn and grateful to read your blog and books. You taught me to knit socks. I still use your go to pattern. Thank you for accepting me into this wild wonderful world of knitters. XOXO Janet

I second that comment about lovely writing in a crazy world – I come to this blog every single day and it is a balm for my soul. One of my very favourite posts is from December 2014 “The Whole House is Sticky” – the photos in that post make my heart warm and if I’m having a rotten day at work, that is the post I pull up and read.
Another favourite is the post from November 3, 2014 when Sam’s sweet hedgehog died, you made roasted vegetable soup and everything was gentle and quiet – I’ve made that soup several times, and my favourite part is that it is timed by sitting and knitting. xoxo
You make a difference in this crazy world of ours, Stephanie – thank you for opening your world to us!

Stephanie, you and your blog have become so important to me over the years. So many of your heartfelt posts resonate with me, and I revel in the way you can articulate your views and feelings. And I love to see the pictures of all the lovely things you’ve knitted. It’s been great to watch your girls grow up into lovely young women, and now even a mother. Thank you so much for sharing yourself and your family adventures with us.

Happy Anniversay! Thank you for always being there. I so look forward to the next thirteen. You’ve made me feel like I was part of a community, even when no one else was around. Hugs and love! All the days

Thank you! For laughter, occasional tears, inspiration to blog myself, to knit more, to spin, to work to make the world a better place. Yours is one of a small handful of blogs I seek out daily and am always disappointed if a catch a non blog day.

Firstly, thanks for making me a little weepy (in the happy, warm way) on a long, grim January day when it feels a bit like Narnia; always winter yet never Christmas. And mostly, thank you for what you bring to those of us in the collective known as “The Blog”. Laughs, inspiration, a sense of community and hope, always hope. As you once wrote “Hope is the thing with socks on…” which inspired me to add, “that skips along without the shoes and never stops at all. And dearest in the gale is donned, And sore must be the storm, that could abash the little yarn that kept so many warm. I’ve knit it in the the chillest lands and on canoe at sea, yet never in extremity it asked a darn of me.” 🙂 So here’s to the next 13, filled with laughs, inspiration, community and hope. Love always! xo

Me too!
And Stephanie,
Thanks for sharing your life and knitting with us. I’m in a battle now, with a shawl largely comprised of P3T, and over the years, your blog has helped me develop a constructive approach to such projects (AFTER a few choice words)

Happy to be here 🙂
Well done you for creating not only uncountable hoards of knitted goodness, but 13 years of content that people want to read! It’s not as easy as you make it look. (Rather like lace in that respect.)

Happy anniversary, Steph. Blogs come and go, but I still come to yours every day, yes for the knitting, but also to catch up on the family. We appreciate everything you’ve done for knitting and the rest of the world.

Happy Anniversary Steph. While I am not a knitter (my hands go to sleep)I love fiber and I quilt (with a little crochet on the side). I enjoy reading about the process of making, so feel a kindred spirit with you and the blog. I look forward to each post, I love your family, you are a ‘wicked’ writer, and I too wonder about the handset.

I’ve been waiting all day for this post so I could wish you happy 13th Anniversary — I remember your anniversary date because today is also the 8th Anniversary of the Boquete (Panama) Knitters and Quilters. You’ve come a very long way, and so have we. And I take such pleasure in sharing a very special day with you!

By the way, we’re having a celebration at our regular Friday meet-up in Alto Boquete — you’re invited!

And thank you for giving up a bit of your privacy, a bit of your anonymity, maybe some days a bit of your sanity (though you DID make it to that Ann Arbor signing) so we could all laugh and admire and sympathize and feel a little bit more connected, with a little bigger perspective on the world, Timbits, Canada Day, chesterfields and all. Thanks to you, we’re an us.

But there is no apostrophe in the possessive “its.” Still, we love you.

Thank you Steph! Years and years ago when I relearned how to knit, I wandered into a bookstore and found one of your books. I laughed all through out Knitting Rules and was amazed to find out later that you actually had a blog so I didn’t have to wait for the next book to come out to read something amusing. (not that that’s a hint or anything).

I stumbled across the blog about 7 years ago as I was just getting back into knitting (I’ve knit off and on since I was 4). I quickly developed a system of keeping up with new posts while working my way from the very beginning. I have learned so much from your blog about knitting (it’s ok to rip it out and start over) that I’ve gone from a person that finishes one dish cloth or garter stitch scarf per year to a knitter that only puts down the needles when I have to. I’ve knit warm scarves, cozy blankets, delicate lace shawls, and practical socks. I’ve donated to Knitters Without Borders, and the Bike Rally, Scarves and mittens have been sent to local shelters, through the inspiration on your blog I have found ways to be a kinder more generous person and more involved in my community.

You may have not taught me how to knit, but you taught me how to be a Knitter. So Happy Blogiversary and thank you for everything.

Happy Blogiversary! I have been with you since almost the beginning (and read back to the beginning) and you and your family are important to me also. My husband and I talk about you in the same way: asking what would Stephanie think about a knitting disaster i.e. I always get a little nervous to read the anniversary post, because I’m afraid you’re going to thank us all for being wonderful and then tell us you are moving on. I heaved a huge sigh of relief at the end. To the next thirteen!

Me too! I started to read and then said – oh no, is she going to tell us bye bye?!!! I had to go all the way to the bottom of the post and find out that she was not – and then I could go up to the top and read it from the beginning!! So happy to have found this blog and look forward to it for a long time to come!

Oh thank you thank you thank you — to you, mostly, for writing it all down, but to your whole family for letting you do it, for thinking of us (that Megan wanted us to know makes me weepy) — and to my fellow Blog, even the ones who get snippy when you talk about politics (ahem: wisely and with a keen Canadian sense of the USA and its effects on you), for being there with me reading Steph’s thoughts. Thank you for bringing us together. And yes, when I looked out on all those hats Saturday (so many! so much different yarn and so many different levels of knitting skill!) I thought of The Blog and knew that at least some of what I was seeing was its handiwork.
One of my friends took knitting up to make two hats for the march. She just mentioned that it’s “kind of addictive.” I think I will send her a link to The Blog.

When I began reading, I could see, coincidentally, that there were 13 comments. Think of that! and when I was finished, and refreshed the page, there were 18. That meant there were people everywhere reading with me, and writing comments, in real time! How many will there be once my comment is posted? Words can’t express what you, and your family, and your words, and the friendly additional comments from the blog, have meant to me. You are famous far beyond the blog, if my small world is any example, for who you are, how you share yourself, the experiences you describe. I could go on and on, of course. But I will end simply – thank you, and leave the finer words to those more clever than I. You and your family are embraced in love all around the world. I hope many others can be so lucky.

Happy 13th! I have been reading since a few months in – though in some ways it feel so much shorter AND so much longer. Your blog is funny, and touching, and comforting, and inspiring. I love how much your family loves us, and I think we love them just as much!

I hope you can keep it up another 13, please please do! It’s the highlight of a bad day, or bad week, or even bad month to see a new post and read it like I’m pulling over a soft knit afghan. We had a horrendous 2016, and I clung to bits of good news here and there and cherished them – your blog provided many of those.

I still wear your Tiptoe Through the Tulip socks you mailed to me so many moons ago, and they make me smile.

Happy Blogiversary! Thank you for the blog and for your book Knitting Rules! All those years ago in the little Esperance (Australia) when I bought your book, I never dreamed of all the enjoyment it would give me. Your book took me beyond knitting simple knit and purl scarves to hats, then shawls and last year socks!

“Knitting Rules” was a turning point for me, also. It taught that it was okay to make mistakes, that you were still a “real” knitter even if there were projects you didn’t finish, and that the joy was in the creating.

I started knitting 5 years ago next month and found your blog, and books, relatively quickly. Knitting gave me something to focus, my mind and my fingers, on after we found out we couldn’t have children. I’ve read the entire blog and thoroughly enjoyed meeting you at a retreat a few years ago. Your a great inspiration in knitting and life in general. Happy Blogiversary!!! Donation made!!

I stumbled across your work many years ago and it was the one thing I clung to in a very dark time. Such a strange thing to say, but true. I’m so happy that those days have passed but I will always be thankful. Thank you for the opportunity to give to wonderful charities like Doctors Without Borders and PWA. Thank you for sharing your travels, your knitting adventures, and even snapshots of your family life with all of us over the years. I wish you joy in the next chapter of your life as a grandmother and many more years of knitting happiness!

I love this blog. I feel better when I read it:). I run a knitting group for people suffering with mental illness and addictions. We knit for charity and it is such an awesome thing!! I tell them all about The Blog and sometimes read it to them in hopes it will lift their spirits as much as it does mine. Also, I was thrilled to see you IN REAL LIFE last year at the Frolic last year!!
Thank you for all that you do❤
Tammy

Aw, man! We love you, too! No, really. This blog has been a highlight, often, of cruddy days. It’s been insight, and calm, and love, and thoughtfulness, and lots and lots and lots (and lots) of laughter. Thank YOU, for these 13 years.

Congratulations!!
And thanks for sharing such precious moments with all of us.
Please let me know if you ever decide to come to Portugal, so we can share some wine and maybe take you to our beautiful places around Sintra and Lisboa…
Hugs!

I am forever quoting you to my grown children. Years ago they groaned with laughter about “Mr Washie” and I was amazed about how fast you completed garments. How? And then you were there in person in front of me and my son in a barn at The New York Sheep & Wool Festival while we were all stuck in the crowds and not moving. I wear a size small and stand 5’1″ tall but you are smaller still and now I know the answer to my question!

Happy 13th. Thanks for Blogging the knitting, family, love, laughter, and tears that make life special. Knitters make a huge difference. Last year at Stitches West’s PJ Party we stuffed over 4,000 knitted knockers. Knitters are amazing folks and it has been my pleasure to read this blog for many years. And I still write my sister to send her SPM blog warnings when I know she is going to cry so she can pick the time to read your blog at work.

Keep our 13th contributes a secret for a while and see if they notice IN REAL TIME.

Yes, Sunny does send me warnings because she knows you are my afternoon cuppa since I don’t drink coffee and need a pick me up about this time of day. Your blog does the trick.

In our knitting group, I often hear or say “Stephanie said” and mean you, of course. Emails refer to you as SPM, but IN REAL LIFE, we are on a first name basis.

Knitters are definitely changing lives as 131,100 hand knitted or crocheted bears have been sent to children living in Africa with HIV/AIDS and/or trauma by the Mother Bear Project’s wonderful knitters over the past 14 years. Stitches West will be collecting Knitted Knockers and having another stuffing party at Friday’s Pajama Party.

Sorry, I have never thought to bring you an apple or a beer, but have remembered to bring you chocolate. You are our family, too. One takes care of family.

One last thing, 13 is my lucky number so extra special congratulations to you!

Happy Blogversary! Thank you so much for the light, laughter and knitting you’ve brought into our lives. Thank you for having the courage to state your thoughts on tough issues with grace and gentleness. And thank you so much for sharing your amazing family with us.

I found the blog after it was well eatablished and had so much fun reading the archives to “catch up”. I have to admit that I think it would be crazy cool of a publisher to do a book of the blog. Yes, I know. I can read it online. (But I still think a book would rock.)

Looking forward to reading the continuing adventures, and living in hopes of a Gansey Resolution… 🙂

Hey Steph…how about doing a hardback blog book (maybe a year at a time) as a fundraiser? (Is there any money left after printing, shipping, paying the author, for donations to your causes?)
Anyone in publishing out there that wants to donate to an important cause? Now would be the time…behind those pink hats were knitters and their friends….

I feel I have much more to thank you for, especially at the moment – your blog inspired me to start knitting socks, something the grandmother who taught me to knit, had never tried herself.

I now carry a pair or two of WIP socks with me everywhere I go and they’re now a key part of my life. I never imagined, back when I was swearing over my first pair and tiny DPNs, the amount of comfort something as basic as socks would bring me.

This came to a head in April 2916, when I was beaten, raped and strangled by my partner. Not for the first time. Whilst I endured hours of police interviews, forensic investigations – the WIP Socks I carried in my handbag, were there to distract, comfort and keep me (at least a bit) together.

Even in times now, when so many friends have deserted me and there are days I can barely get myself dressed, the socks are right there with me.

If your blog hadn’t inspired me to start making a pair in first place, I don’t know where I would be right now.

Except maybe richer, and have a lot more storage space…

I can’t say thank you enough. I think Socks have saved my soul these past months.

Though I don’t know you IN REAL TIME, I’ll speak for THE BLOG and say that we’ll love, comfort, support and strengthen you in our hearts and thoughts through the Interknit. Wrapping you in caring like a soft and warm shawl, we are a sisterhood and brotherhood of knitters.

I really appreciate you mentioning this. I hope knitting will continue to be therapeutic for you. I think Stephanie writes to support, uplift and encourage anyone who stops by to check out her blog. Being able to smile is healthy, so I wish you a life filled with laughter, Lisa. Reading Steph’s blog can help you return to a place of joy.

My son mentioned that he would like to make a charitable donation and suggested that I could match it. He brought up Doctors Without Borders. I told him about The Blog and how much money knitters have raised with your guidance. He was pretty surprised and impressed. So my 19 year old and I will both send a donation in your honor. Here’s to 13 more.

Happy Blogiversary Steph,
Thank You for everything, The Blog, The books, The classes, for being the only knitting blog my hubster thinks is wonderful and funny too so we can share it :0)
Thank you Ken for your wonderful gift to Steph that really has been a wonderful gift to so very many more.
Love Mel x x x

Happy blogiversary! I wasn’t here day one, but definitely for a while. Today facebook showed me “you posted this 6 years ago today” things and it was a pic of me and you holding up each other’s knitted sock at Vogue Knitting Live” in NYC. I felt very cool and honored and it still makes me smile. Cool timing! So enjoy what you do. Thanks!!

Oh Stephanie, I read this aloud to my partner, and was in tears for most of it. You mean every bit as much to us as we do to you. Thank you for being so real. Thank you to Joe and the girls for their openness. This little corner of the interknit is a very special place. Happy Blogiversary!

Happy 13th. Thanks for being here, for being you. Sometimes when I’m in a deep hole and feel alone in the world I read your blog and know that there is someone who thinks a bit like me. You make me laugh and you make me cry and you remind me to keep going. Thanks for teaching me to be a better knitter and a better person.

Happy Blogiversary, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have shared (of both life and knitting) over the years. I was an on-again-off-again knitter before encountering your blog; ever since, the switch has lodged permanently in the “on” position and my life has been enriched for it. Like you, I am currently absorbed in the joyous task of knitting for my first grandchild.

As for the celebrity encounter phenomenon, a while back (a couple of years?), I saw Joe on TV — I think maybe on The National — being interviewed about some sound studio kind of thing. As soon as I saw him, I exclaimed, “Hey, that’s Joe!”, and a second later there was a caption on the screen confirming that I was right. I was quite proud of myself for knowing who he was, and the rest of my family was mystified by my unexpected knowledge of sound engineering celebrities!

It’s not unusual for me to say “Steph said…” and my whole family knows who I mean. I second the comments that said you taught me to be a knitter. It’s different than learning to knit! As I will be a first time grandma just a week or two before you, I am so grateful to be a knitter and to have that expression of love and welcome for the baby. Happy Blogiversary!

Happy anniversary! Thanks so much for taking the time these last 13 years to unite so many people over your words. When I came back to knitting so many years ago ( I had knitted as a child and in fits and starts afterward but it hadn’t seemed to stick) I felt as if I was the only one who enjoyed it so much aside from maybe a grandmother or two. Your blog, and then Ravelry made me realize that I was a part of a much larger community. And your right. We ARE a force! Thank you for the community you have fostered over the years and here’s to many more!

Stephanie,
I started reading your blog when I was in seventh grade or so. I’m now a 21-year-old college student majoring in Education. I’ve not been here since 2004, (I was only in 2nd grade eek!) but I would like to say that being here as long as I have and having gone back and read your old posts and knowing what knitters who came before me have done, helped me to believe in the pussyhat project and what one stitch at a time, one act at a time, can do for the world at large.
Thanks, and Happy Aniversary 🙂

Thank you for sharing yourself (and your family) with us. For what must be the 1,785th time, you have made me tear up with your graciousness. I teared up as I watched the marches on TV on Saturday – not only to see all those knitted hats, but to see US…women (and their partners) making a difference. Again. One news report calculated 11 MILLION worldwide. Holy cow…we are a movement and I couldn’t be prouder of us and you. ok…have to stop…actually crying now

I am leaving this comment before I read the others’ because, Dammit, we all tend to be eloquent and moving. Steph, you have been me when I needed to justify me and not-me when I needed to learn. You have been wisdom, perspective and insight that I wish I had. But really you have been a friend that I haven’t met and you have inspired me to be that same kind of friend to others. And I totally have a crush on Joe. And Luis (in an Aunty way). And Ken (in a BFF way). And in Meg’s boy in a hope for the future kind of way.
Love to you and all you influence.

Aw, Steph, we love you more.
Thank you for every blog I have laughed at and cried over and learned from – for the wonderful yarns and patterns I might otherwise never have heard about – for all I have learned about knitting, but also for all I have learned about people and parenting and so much more. You enrich my life – every time you blog, and whenever I read your books (I own them all!), and when I wonder, What would Stephanie do? And you share a name with my beloved big sister, so that makes it even better.
Keep on blogging, dear friend I never met. Be well and knit happy.

We love you right back! And, yeah, I felt so PROUD to see all those hats on Saturday, especially knowing that the 2 hats I had knitted were there somewhere in that crowd.

In honor of your blogiversary, I’ll continue my tradition of giving away a copy of “Knitting Rules” on my own blog, because that book changed my life (in a good way, of course) and led me to your blog and this amazing community of knitters, both online and off.

So thanks again, Stephanie! Remember – the Revolution will be knitted.

THANK YOU, Stephanie. You are such a joy. Thank you for your wisdom, for sharing your life with us, for using your fame to do such good in the world. There are few blogs I read these days but I will read yours as long as you keep blogging.

I read At Knit’s End in May of 2005, to calm my tears on the day my boyfriend left our little college town in New York state for San Francisco. Then I found out there was a Blog, and have been reading ever since. Twelve years later that boyfriend is now my husband and we’ve moved out of our little apartments into a house of our own. I’m still knitting, the Blog is still going. These two events – the leaving and the Blog filling a tiny part of the hole in my heart, giving me something to look forward to every day, are inextricably linked in my heart. Thanks for writing, Stephanie!

Thanks for everything you do! The Blog has been such a great place to visit over the years…the knitting, the humor, the thoughtfulness. I still remember asking for a half day to go to one of your signings in Indianapolis eight or so years ago. My coworkers were more than a little befuddled as to why anyone would go to a book signing for a book of knitting humor. Their loss – my mom, my sister (a non-knitter), and I had a wonderful time. And now, the Blog is a teenager!

I was there, too, and I cherish a photo, taken at Stephanie’s insistence, of the two of us. The sweater I wore then remains a favorite because she complimented me on it. Knitting has gotten me through some tough times and made the good times even better, and I owe much of it to Stephanie’s enthusiasm for our craft.
Thank you, dear Harlot, and may you have many more Blogiversaries! (And please come and see the dinos at Indy’s Children’s Museum.)
How appropriate– I’m to touch the computer!

I don’t check this blog as often as I used to but I still check now and again, it is one of the very few blogs that I still read. I have reader/fan for a long time. I was so sad that the one and only time you came to Halifax and I who has gone away less than a dozen times in over 20 years was out of town, and neither my mother nor my husband were able to attend the book signing for me. I donated to knitters without borders and read all the books. I also knit 9 pink hats since the end of november and my brother and SIL wore 2 of those hats in DC at the march on saturday. Thank you for continuing to blog but also to share on IG. Happy blogiversary.

Oh Happy Happy Day! I just realized I’ve been reading you for over A DECADE. Not exactly from the very beginning — I started somewhere between years 2 and 3 (and back in the day, I went and read from the beginning to catch what I’d missed). Even though I don’t comment often, I look forward to your posts, feel So Very Privileged to be present to you and your families lives and all the scrumptious knits are like a cherry on top.

Plus, I got to bring you beers and chocolate once, when you came thru Ann Arbor on a late plane, being saved by the guy who owned the local sushi joint. Memories are Good Times and it’s such a great view into the future knowing there’ll be plenty more. Onward!

I know I don’t comment much Steph, but I also know that you know that I have read every one of your posts from the very beginning. (In fact, obsessively refreshing your blog waiting for a post might have been the only thing that kept me from loosing my sh!t at my crappy job 10 or so years ago.) Congrats on 13 years and all you have accomplished. I hope there are many more years to come!

Some of the best years of my life have been the last 13, and it’s amazing how much of a role you and all the lovely knitters (and spinners and weavers) have played in making them good years. Thank you, all of you!

Ken! Look what you started! And bless you Steph for keeping it going! I too, grew from a knitter to a Knitter thanks to this blog. Knitting Rules was a yarngoddesssend.
Thank you for sharing with humor, humanity and well written outrage when needed.
Thank you for leading by example and teaching us to be kind to one another even when we don’t agree.
Thank you for educating me and inspiring me to be a better person, a better global citizen.
We are the Interknit (which I just added to my smartphone vocabulary, thanks Joe) with yarn fiber in our blood and brain cells sparking with great Ideas and Causes (ah, that’s what is affecting the Counting Thing).
Thank you X 13+.
❤

Happy Anniversary, and as those before me have said, thank YOU. Thanks to your family for sharing you with us. Being a member of The Blog makes me happy, I look forward to every post, and it helps me feel like I’m a part of something much bigger than myself. (That sea of pink hats was thrilling, as is being a part of Knitters Without Borders and PWA). Thanks for bringing so many of us together, knitters united, through your words and your compassion. Here’s to many many more. Cheers.

Ah man, now I have to explain why my eyes are all watery at work. Reading your blog is like sitting down with an old friend, one who finishes your sentences but can still surprise you with incredibly profound insights. My family knows you, friends have heard all about the bike rally (and are gobsmacked at how much you raise) and I even dragged a friend to one of your classes (that was hours away – no surprise, she too thought that you were awesome…..but thought you might have a wee addiction to knitting).

Happy blogaversary – I hope that I am still reading it many years from now (although by then we will probably have computers implanted in our heads). You are awesome!

Amazing how a person can touch you so. Amazing how I look forward to reading a friends words every day, whom I have never met. Amazing how my heart beats faster when you get closer to my locale and I think maybe I will see her. Amazing how someone else’s written words are what you think. Thank you Stephanie. I look forward to another year together.

I think I discovered your blog about year 2 or 3. I remember backing up to read it from the begining. I’ve told people who aren’t the least bit interested in knitting to read it just to see a woman reinvent herself. I look forward to your posts, I’m disappointed on days you don’t post and I think there could be more cat (surely she would not object or does she have a “nip” habit that needs hiding). Congratulations on 13 years I’ll be here to read the next 13.

So happy to hear you talk about “the next 13”! We’re gonna need it. Some jackrabbit saw all those pink hats and wondered if they were actually “Made in the USA”. How good to tell him that, yes, indeed, they were mostly made by hand by women–the very women marching often–in the US (and Canada and elsewhere too no doubt), not manufactured in a sweat shop somewhere like a certain red cap that’s been seen a lot lately.

Now I’m feeling sappy, and I thank you for that – and for so many more, Steph. I wasn’t in the 2004 class but came in during 2005. You’ve been a part of my life that has strengthened my knitting skills and my belief that I could really do this. I own every book you’ve written although I could only find Knitting Rules to bring along to Kansas City last spring for your autograph. We’ve been remodeling and everything was packed away.

Knitting in the Heartland was the pinnacle of knitting awesome for me. I was blessed to get into all of your classes and nearly swallowed my teeth when my DH and I got to ride up in the elevator with you just as you arrived at the hotel. You were exhausted but gracious and I was so overwhelmed that I could hardly speak. Thank you for being lovely and real at the same time.

Thanks for sharing part of your life with us – we really do feel like an entity – the Blog, the Interknit (I love that term) with so much in common. We are different and yet the same in many ways. You’ve brought us together and we are blessed.

Thank you Stephanie for writing your wonderful blog. Like many others, I started reading you about year 3 or 4… then I had a boring Sunday job and I went back and read every post!

Your tab is always first on my safari window and I check almost every day to see what you have to say. You are an honorable example of what we all should be. I love that you “curate” your entries to make sure you present the best face to the nosy world. I love the philosophy you endorse when you add another person to your christmas family, when you support Doctors Without Borders and the Bike Ride.

When life was good I was amused by your humor and read your posts out loud to my husband. Then he got sick and you cheered me up with stories of spiders and curly hair. And Kinnearing actors. After he passed, I read your entries to be reminded that there was good in the world. And I knit through it all along with you.

Then I started another adventure (because – as you know – we have to go on, one foot in front of the other…) and I moved to Manhattan. And there you were! I got a photo of myself next to you holding a sock! I Kinneared you at Rhinebeck! (Twice!) And read and enjoyed each entry as you posted them.

I laugh and knit with you again and now I read you aloud to my wonderful boyfriend, who understands knitters and knows what Kinnearing means.

So thank you for being a constant in my life, as I am sure you are in many others. You should be very proud of your career and your Blog! Looking forward to the next 13 years along with many other fans!

Thank you, Stephanie, for being a bright spot in so many days, for making the wide world seem a little smaller and friendlier, and being a dear friend who doesn’t even know me. Oh how I would love to give you a hug today!

(Woman who ran into you in an Edmonton Hotel when you were doing a talk for River City Yarns, and showed you to the room in question. Thank you for holding my sock and signing my copy of “The Amazing Think About the Way It Goes”.)

Happy Blogiversary, Steph! The Blog has meant a great deal to me over the years, and for that I thank you. My thanks also, for your knitting humor and expertise, and I happily look forward to more of the same!

Now I have to explain to my co-workers why I’m a bit weepy sitting at my desk and reading The Blog over lunch … But thank you, Stephanie, for providing such a place for community and creativity and for opening your and your family’s lives to us. When I saw the women’s marches, I thought ‘I can’t wait to see what Stephanie says about the hats’, and when my best friend and I get together we gossip about you as though you’re one of our friends, because you are. Thank you for the countless times you’ve brightened my day by seeing a new blog post appear. Thank you for making me laugh and making me cry. Thank you for all the good you have done and all the joy you have spread. May the wool be with you!

Yours was the very first blog I ever read and I want to thank you for sharing so much of yourself and your family and friends with me. I think of Tupper, and Mr. Washie, and Kinnearing, and the time Joe stuck the truck, and just so much and so many moments. Thank you, thank you, thank you all!

Thank you Stephanie for bringing laughter and smiles when I visit your blog; for giving me a space to come to and feel comfortable in my “knitting skin”; where the community here understands and can commiserate over the frustration of being screwed over by gauge; at the same time appreciate and enjoy the meditative qualities of knitting; the fulfillment and pride to keep a loved one warm; and tangibly wrap a person with love on days when even they didn’t know they needed one. The conversations brought up through knitting can be extended beyond the terms of knitting and you remind us it is all about love in the end. There are good days and some can be better, but thank you for creating a space where I know I can count on feeling better after stopping by, than before the visit. Thank you for taking the time to share with us for 13 years and cheers to many more!

Thank you for expressing what we all feel so deeply. Sometimes I feel ridiculous for making knitting such an integral part of my life, but it truly does feed a core need in me. It helps balance those times when a friend I haven’t seen for a while asks “So, what have you been up to?” And I start to respond with way too much information about my knitting accomplishments this season. The puzzlement in their eyes… Oh my.

Thanks for being here. (And I hope you saved some of those family stories that you chose not to share with the interknits. They’ll be treasured memories once the scars heal.)

Thank you so much for your wonderful posts. I so appreciate how much hard work you put into the Blog. I’m always so impressed by both the quality and the quantity of your writing — you keep all of us checking our computers daily, year after year. You make me laugh and cry, and buy new patterns. Happy blogiversary.

You have opened my eyes to the Interknit and widened my horizons. So, thank you! My niece knew it was you last summer on a wet bush road in Northern Ontario but was too shy to pull out her socks-in-progress and ask you to hold them for a photo. She sends her thanks and admiration too.

Class of 05 here, not quite from the beginning but nearly so. Thank you for being so enjoyable. Thank you for sharing your life. Thank you for “normalizing” mine. You’ve made mine better in ways you will never know.

Stephanie, thank YOU! Thank you.
And to Joe and the girls, for being willing to be shared.
I found you through one of your books. Someone else who carried knitting in her purse and owned a huge bunch of yarn (which I learned to call “stash”). Like many others, you inspired me to become a Knitter, to try socks, to teach myself magic loop, to knit sweaters and the joy of wearing one’s own hand kits, and have shown me some seriously wonderful patterns (which have mysteriously fallen into my Rav library and into iBooks on my phone).
Today, I figured out how to knit from a chart-your example once again opening new worlds!
Thank you!

Happy Blogiversary, Stephanie! Thank you for all your wonderful and inspiring words over the years. Thank you too for always being so gracious about being called out to IN REAL LIFE. I have often wondered if you ever felt like you were being stalked by everyone and just wished we would keep our distance. I very much enjoyed the class I took with you at River City Yarns a few years back and hope I get the opportunity to do so again someday. xoxoxo

I have been a reader from the beginning. I have retreated to your blog entries in good and bad times, and always feel more connected to our amazing knitting community when I’m here. In particular, your support of the LGBTQ community has always meant so very much to me when there were too many unfriendly places (and now when my new government scares me) so thank you for being safe and supportive always. You may not know me personally but I love to think of you as my friend.

Congratulations on the blogiversary!
Your readers have learned so much from your postings over the years. Thanks for all of the hard work on the blog (and the Rally, and Knitters without Borders, and …)
Best wishes for the year of the Chicken (Rooster)!
Off to make my anniversary donation,

Happy Blogiversary, Stephanie! Thank you for giving me and so many others encouragement and laughter and smiles through the tears these 13 years. Thank you to your wonderful family for their willingness to share their lives with the Interknit, too – we are all a family too. Wacky, happy, sad, arguing and then coming back together because we care about each other – and you have made that possible here with your wisdom, honesty and wit. Blessings to you!

Happy blogiversary to you and your family Stephanie! I have loved every post, cried and laughed and considered things as I read. I was so proud and excited for the March of Women, and, like you, so thrilled and touched to see so many pink pussy hats. Have you seen the Ravelry collage of pussyhat projects Casey made!? It’s amazing! Knitters can do most anything, I think.

Thank you Stephanie!! I don’t comment very often but I check the Blog everyday. If there is not a new post I reread old ones. I met you when you spoke at IUPUFW in November 2013. I also saw you at Simply Sock Yarn Company earlier that day. Like others have said, your writing has helped me get through some hard times. I love reading about your family. I love reading about your knitting and I love your amazing pictures! Thank you and Happy Blogiversary !

Happy happy blogiversary!! Always love your posts and am so glad to still see you here and on IG! You have a friend in Lexington KY (saw you speak here in the mid-2000s) to bring you a beer, emergency yarn, or whatever you may need! Your family is beautiful, your passions strong, and your stories so well crafted that we feel a connected to your life. We partner with you in knitted life and beyond. We love you! <3

Thirteen? Seriously? It seems like a few months ago I started following this blog, but apparently it’s been quite a few years. Thanks for all the wonderful posts, especially the funny ones (so very, very many) and the thought-provoking ones (just as important). Thanks for creating such a lovely, warm, genuine online community. I really enjoy coming here, and being a part of it. “Thank you” seems insufficient, but it’s what I’ve got. Well, that, and $13;-)

Thank you for sharing your world with us. You made a knitter out of me, and then a spinner, and someday a weaver. I look forward to all the future knits and stories and dreams you will so kindly share here.

Oh Stephanie. What a wonderful acknowledgement of our community of knitters. With the U.S. so scary right now it is extra essential to recognize that it’s the person to person connections that matter. At our core, we can all be kind and respectful. Thank you for pointing it out, and for being an ambassador. Not just for knitting, but how to appreciate one another.

Steph, you have been a miracle in my life. At a time when I was disabled and scared and jumbled in every way, I could read you and feel like there was hope. I confess I’ve only been here for 11.5 of those 13, but I’m so grateful for what you’ve shared with us.

I first met you in Petaluma when I was knitting my very first sock (for my son’s size 13 feet!) and you were kind enough to sign not just my copy of the current book, but the 4 previous ones as well. I’ve continued to come see you bearing gifts every time you are anywhere near my Northern CA home, and wish I could travel to see you more often and take a class somewhere. You’ve gotten me to donate to causes, to be more patient (because I’m knitting instead of slapping the stupid out of someone) and to go from being an occasional knitter to a Knitter, obsessed and unable to resist the siren song of just one more skein.

Now that my work has meant I’ve had to give up creating knitted things (I’ve become a massage therapist and my 69-year old hands can only do so much without damage) i still read you faithfully and start being mildly concerned when you don’t blog for more than a week or so – unless I know you’re on the road at a crazed pace.

My all-time favorites are Little Blue Sock and Joe’s adventure with the truck, but I’m grateful for every word, from the fleece-stealing squirrel saga to the big and little joys of your life. Love to you and your family and all the others blog-mites who are never once bored by you and your adventures, be they yarn-based or other.

And yes, my 13th contribution will be heading out at the first of the month.

There’s a noticeable major uptick in my mood when I go on Feedly and see there’s a new post from you! Thanks!! The stuff about knitting often reflects my own knitting experiences and I think you gauged the family stuff perfectly. We feel we know you all in the best way.

If you are ever in Singapore, you may get a “Hi Stephanie” in a tropical (mostly non-knitting) part of the world. Your blog is more than “knit”, it is people-centred. Family and values are the same everywhere in the world. Happy 13.

So many thanks to you for opening your heart to us. A heart large enough to house a community wrapped in warmth and knit together with love, respect, compassion and mindful activism. You’ve entiched so many lives.

My husband and I were watching the coverage of the women’s marches. I pointed to the sea of pink hats like the one I was wearing and said, “See? Every one of those was made by hand.” He just squeezed my hand tighter.

Dear Stephanie,
thank you for writing all this time and continuing to share your life, and those of the people you love, with us. I’ve been here for the last ten years and I regularly quote something said either by you or in the comments as the Truth from The Interknits. Please don’t stop!
Love from The Netherlands.

Thank you Stephanie. Thank gave mevidence shiverers.
I was introduced to The Yarn Harlot by a counsellor, at a point when I had discovered sock knitting and re discovered knitting, in an attempt to support me through significant life changing trauma.

You, and it were a big part of that 7 years ago. And continue to be there and for that Thank YOU.

Aw, I’ve seen Sam out and about on the subway but thought it might be weird to introduce myself – didn’t want to freak anyone out! Now I wish I’d had. It’s been a pleasure reading all these years (not quite the 13 though it’s been about 13 years this spring that I started knitting in earnest!). I can’t believe I’ve never run into you around the city, it’s one of my great disappointments.

I am reminded that yours is the very first blog, knitting or otherwise, that I ever started to read. Your first book had popped up and seemed an ideal present for my only knitter friend (at the time) and there was blurb about the blog on the back so I visited… The earliest thing I really remember is the Juno sweater and after referring back to those posts (so great that the archive is all there!), that makes it a good 10 years that I’ve been looking you up regularly 🙂 And it so happens that Megan was 15 and had just knit socks… Amazing! So many blogs have come and gone since then and I still check in every week 🙂 Still love keeping up with you, your knitting, your family and your opinions here in Switzerland!

Hurrah for the blog (which, incidentally I started reading when my baby was tiny and never slept. I read the whole back catalogue six years ago when she was breastfeeding at night. Thank you for keeping me awake enough not to drop her!)

“that while we all fight with our teenagers and it’s normal and lonely and horrible”

You got that, as so much, right.

I’ll change my name for this post: as you say, it doesn’t need to be near the internet (chances of her reading are slim, but who cares … she was once a knitter, and may be again one day, I live in hope!) In fact “I live in hope” will do as mantra for these tough days.

Thanks for 13 wonderful years. I think I started reading a couple years in, but I’ve been here for most of it. You’ve made me laugh and cry, and you’ve made my heart grow several sizes. Thanks for everything you’ve done to make this online knitting community one that I’m proud to be a member of.

Happy Anniversary, Steph! I’ve been reading your posts since the Knitlist days, before the Blog, so I guess it’s awhile now. You’ve made me a better, more adventurous knitter, and I am quite sure that without your inspiration, there are times that I would have given up, thrown the lace shawl-in-progress onto the driveway and run over it several times with the truck, discarded all my needles and set fire to my stash. Well, not really. . . but there have been challenges along the way, and for the most part I’ve gotten through them. Congratulations, and a great big Thank You for being there, for sharing your knitting wisdom and even your family. The very best to you all!

Thank you – for your ‘real life’ too. Showing that real things really do happen to other bloggers, the tears, the laughter, the ripback, the wip, the gritting of teeth and getting on – real things, real life. So, thank you’

Congratulations,Steph, and thank you so much for your blog, I’ve been here for many years. Watching your lovely family grow up, learning so much about knitting, and reading your funny and inspiring words have been a true pleasure! I have all your books, and feel I have grown in so many ways, particularly as a Knitter, thanks to you. I second all the things everyone here has said, and look forward to many more posts. (I always feel disappointed when you don’t have a new post.). And thank you for introducing me to this great community of knitters, it’s fun being a part of it!

It seems such a long time ago since we were reading your blog and were members of the KnitList. Our knitting community on the internet has always been involved in making the world a better place. I loved making socks and vests for Children in Common and I loved making a pink hat to send to someone in the USA to wear in a Women’s March. The Yarn Harlot is a constant in a sea of change. Thank you for everything you do. Happy anniversary.

You already know this, but we love you, too! You help to bring us together and inspire the best in us. I love your phrasing that “we are legion”. I feel it perfectly defines The Knitters (mine own way of referencing us). You have, more than any other source, helped me to know that, see that, be part of it. Thank you!

Wow, how time flies.
Thrilled to hear you’ll be riding again this year and that we can support you and PWA in this way. Unfortunately despite the invite from Pato and his co-lead for recruitment I won’t be able to join you, but am happy to cheer you on and donate again this year.

Steph, it appears that we have been blogging roughly the same amount of time. (I’m not doing the math to see if I’m at exactly 13 yrs this early) but you had the benefit of starting when you were older than 19. You had the foresight, wisdom, and experience to know early on what goes public and what does not. At 19, I had know idea and made every single mistake. Only now, at 33, with my own children, am I working to step it up, it’s not just my business going public anymore. You blog is the blog mine strives to be. A perfect mix of family, community, self and knitting.

My favorite posts are when you went on a walk in a tropical beach with your nephew and when you had an anxiety attack about all the holes in your house and had to go get a beer.

I found your blog because I searched for “how to block knitting” and you had a post about that.

I went to a march at my state capitol on Saturday and cried about how many of us were knitters, but the world didn’t know it. We know it because of you, you expose us knitter as the large group we are.

Thank you, Stephanie, for sharing your world with us! It’s crazy to think that I have been reading your words and have been a part of The Blog for over a decade. You continue to inspire me not only as a knitter but as a person. Thank you!!

Happy blogiversary! I had the absolute privilege of meeting you in London nearly ten years ago (TEN?) and you helped me with my first pair of socks. You were so gracious, taking time to speak to everyone at the book signing, despite surely needing food, or beer or maybe the loo? You Canadians must have bladders of steel!

Anyway, I’ve got a bit off-track! Have a wonderful anniversary. The Blog is very grateful for you.

I rarely comment, and to be honest I’m not that great of a knitter, but I thoroughly enjoy sitting down to a cuppa with you. Hell, I even share your stories with my husband, he got a kick out of the mitten story and the pic of your knitting at the table with Joe this week! Congratulations on 13 years, blessings on your for sharing your wit, talent and life with us and thank you!

Stephanie, one thing not mentioned often here (or anywhere for that matter) is just what the whole notion of ‘knitters on the internet’ means. It means that we’re not grannies in rocking chairs that are afraid of computers, and we can even create and appreciate an electronic community. Look at the whole realm of knitting (and what would be characterized by some as “women’s crafts”) and where it is on the internet – yarn stores online, Ravelry, other pattern sites, Facebook pages, etc. Ask the bookstore or library that didn’t quite believe how many people you’d draw for a personal appearance. Can you imagine the reaction of some folks to the notion of knitting while reading email?

Thank you for sharing with us. Your writing, although ostensibly “knitting humor”, has moved me, inspired me, and been part of many IN REAL LIFE discussions. Without you and your writing, I would not be who I am today. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, your family, your friends and traditions. You are a big part of my life, even though we have never met.

Congratulations on 13 years. You’ve done a wonderful job. Thos blog is equally important to the followers as is it is to the writer. How lucky we are to have each other!

Dear Steph, you have encouraged me and given me hope so many times (beyond count actually). Your blog has made me snort my coffee and cry (though not over the same post). Besides all that you’ve made me a better person as well as a better knitter. Thank you. And yes we ARE LEGION (wow was my husband surprised by the sea of pink hats on the TV)! Rock On!!

Steph, I found your little book “At Knits End” in 2009 and it changed my life. I discovered your blog, Ravelry, learned what a LYS was and found a local knitting group that meets weekly. We have met a few times now and I have read every post. You have inspired, challenged, and made me laugh and cry on many occasions. Thank you, my friend.

Aw, happiest 13th blogiversary Steph! I love, love, love your blog! Your honest, humorous humility are inspiring. Man, if a super-experienced knitter like you can make mistakes, it softens the frustration of my own. Latest mistake happened Sat morning as I rushed to finish my last pussyhat – somehow missed the first stitch in the bind off. Saved the unraveling, luckily, and the recipient was so excited to have the hat.
Here’s to many, many more years of The Yarn Harlot blog! Thanks for all you do!

Congratulations, Stephanie. Thirteen years has gone by so quickly. I remember before the blog when I first found you on a listserve or something. A day without our Yarn Harlot and Family is a day without sunshine. With love from Us to you and Joe and the whole family including Ken, Pato and whoever I have missed. Please never stop.

You have made me belly laugh and/or snort into my coffee more times that I can count – I especially remember the week of decaf coffee! I can’t wait to hear what you think about being a grandma – it’s a blessing you can’t believe until you experience it. I talk to my husband often about some story one of my “blogger friends” has told. Thanks for being my friend (even though we’ve never met!) and sticking with the blog for 13 years!

Congrats – this is an amazing accomplishment: to bring together so many individuals and knit us together into a lovely, respectful, cozy community. Thank YOU for creating this space for all of us to retreat to now and then, knowing that here we are understood.

Thank you for having a voice I understand. Even when we don’t agree on a subject, I appreciate your rational and patient explanations of your point of view. Thank you for being a part of my virtual knitting group. I look forward to many more moments with you.

Just saw an amazing movie, Mary & Martha, about how Malaria ravages children in Africa and many other places in the world. The present government of the USA is considering cutting monies to fight Malaria, could we consider giving to Malaria. Maybe Doctors without Borders, could designate some of our money to this project. Imaging how many children us knitter could save!

Happy Blogaversary! Yours was one of the first blogs I ever read (and the ONLY one where I have read the entire archive…twice). Your sense of humor and honesty and love helped me see that blogs weren’t just people blurting crap onto the internet.

Last March, I started my own Blog. My hope is that someday I can create an income to feed my family the way I want to–but also, that I can share my stories and myself with humor and honesty and love.

Happy Blogaversary!! Love you right back, Stephanie! Thanks for inviting us in to your family and making us feel a part of it. I’ve always respected how you keep things private that should be so. I look forward to the next 13 years too.

I have very few knitting friends, and those I have are not really knitters- so blogs like yours (and yours is my favorite) tend to be how I connect with the larger knitting community. Thank you for your commitment to blogging and for all the witty and inspirational posts.

We love you Stephanie. Happy Blogiversary. Thank you for inviting us into your life.
I also have no knitting friends where I live now and feel the community connection through your blog. Thank you for your knitting posts and your not-so-knitting ones, you’ve planted the seed that I may indeed try to downhill snow ski again. Conquer your fears!

Thank you! The first thing I do in the morning (after starting coffee, of course) is to see what you have to say. Through good times and bad, you’ve been there to make the week better. Again, thank you! I appreciate your fine writing, I appreciate your fine knitting and mostly I appreciate your fine mind.

A day doesn’t go by that I don’t check to see what is up on The Blog. It was because of The Blog that I heard of Doctors Without Borders/Knitters Without Borders. At the end of every year when we look to see what money we can donate, Doctors Without Borders is at the top. Thank you.
I never knew how rewarding it was to dig into my stash and send something out to a total stranger (but on the other hand none of us are strangers here) to help with PWA. Thank you. I thank you for being such a good person who cares about her fellow woman/man and the earth, I have also become a better person because of it. Thank you for 13 wonderful years. I hope there are so many more years.

Thank you, Yarnharlot and congratulations! I always enjoy your perspective, having transplanted here many years ago. Keep the true North strong and free! And yes seeing all those lovely knitted hats out there Saturday was truly wonderful. Thanks for sharing and inspiring us out here in the Interknit Blog world ( love that word, Joe!)
Wishing you and yours all the best.

Happy Blogaversary Steph! Thanks for being your wonderful, fiber-loving self and to your family for allowing you to share some of your life with “The Blog”. It is a privilege to have a glimpse into your life. Thanks!

Steph, thank you for everything that you have brought into the knitting world. Your presence encouraged us to explore, to stand firm, and to know that we are not alone when we are raising cranky kids, trying to figure out a pattern, or struggling with a life crisis. Thank you for bringing us Sock Summit. Thank you for your excellent books. And thank you for sharing your family’s life with us. You’ve outlived many blogs and we’re proud to be part of yours.

Thank you Stephanie for all the years, all the laughs and wisdom shared by and with knitters here in Harlotland. I love it and while I don’t comment often I read your blog religiously, buy your books and once had the pleasure of hearing you speak. The blog has enriched many lives many times over. Congrats.
Pam H

Happy Anniversary!
You were my first introduction to the wide world of the online knitting community. Someone mentioned your book and then your blog and I said….wait a minute, knitters are online? Knitting blogs are a thing? And then I found Ravelry and the rest is online history. So thank you! The fact that you’re also from Toronto is even better. We have such a great community here!

Thank you. Your blog has made me laugh, cry and on occasion, both over the years. I read bits (whole posts, actually) out loud to my son.
I’m only just getting back to work after a minor hiccup, so I’ve sent the $13 and I’ll send more if I can.
Jane

oh my gosh, for some reason, perhaps the tenor of the times, I read this blog entry with my heart in my mouth… It felt like a wrap-up. It felt like there was a goodbye pending. I read faster and faster, tempted to skip to the end but afraid to. I am grateful to be a small entity in the mass of The Blog. I love being able to peek through this digital window into your world, Steph. Thank YOU for allowing us in. Happy Blogiversary #13 and here’s to many more!
Cheers!

We share an anniversary, of sorts. I turned 70 on the 23rd. I’m relatively healthy, have three wonderful kids and ten grandkids ranging from 24 to 3 months. In there are two sets of twins (neither identical). I am blessed beyond measure with a husband of fifty years (on March 11).
Thank you for your blog. Do I agree with all your points of view, certainly not, but enjoy reading your point of view. Truly, I enjoy the foibles of your family life and especially knitting.

That was beautiful, you almost made me cry! It goes both ways you know, thank You for letting us share your life, your ups and downs and exploits with both knitting and spinning. It gives some of the courage to try new things when we see that someone else has done them too (and that even expert knitters make mistakes). And thank you to your family for being willing to let us into their lives too, it’s been an honor.

Happy Blogiversary Stephanie! Your Blog is the first link I open, starting my day off with positivity and comfort (like that first cup of tea when I sit down to knit)… and motivation during crappy work days (1099, seeing the gorgeous yarns and projects gives me little goals… set 3 appointments and I can spend x on that type of yarn) or I am working on a project that is so tedious (Dr. Who scarf) that I will clean the bathrooms (shared with teenage boys) before pulling the project out again…

I teared up a little reading this as I bet so many in earlier comments also confessed.
I thought you might like to know that a friend’s recently retired mom learned to knit in order to make the PINK hats and she made 3 adult plus 2 child ones! PINK hats made a knitter!!!
And I want to thank you for your part in expanding my knowledge and my friendships. Knowing you a tiny bit from Strung Along and becoming a part of that community has given me friends I’d never have met otherwise.
Thanks for sticking with “The Blog” – in every way – and I also can’t wait for the next 13. <3

I don’t even knit but was sent to the Blog by a friend who does. Now, 3 friends text and email – “Did you see the Harlot’s blog today?” I don’t understand the technical knitting stuff but I appreciate fabric art. We went through teenagers together and you kept me laughing and sane. I send things from your Christmas list for non-knitters. I so NEED that list. You are my morning coffee since I don’t drink coffee. Well done Harlot and please, carry on!

Thank you for 13 years of being a part of your life. You have shown me that as long as you are a “knitter” you have family everywhere. And as we know family is everyting.
Here’s wishing you only GOOD THINGS this year!!
Thanks
Carla

THANK YOU! I’m grateful to YOU for this blog. It’s changed my relationship to knitting and knitters. Before this blog I had never knit a sock. Before this blog I had not joined a ‘knit night’ and now I have and it’s delightful. Before this blog I didn’t really understand the world of wool and patterns and Rhinebeck type stuff – and now I do. I adore your blog – for all the laughs and all the knowledge.

In particular I love that it’s easy to read. It’s always worked. There are no ads. You don’t charge us anything. Thanks for that.

I also have come to love your family and friends and life. The peak you give us into your personal life seems a perfect balance. I look forward to the posts on the different traditions throughout the year. I wonder about the people – your 3 beautiful knitwear models, Hank and all the new babies, Joe (who seems more camera ready then he did in the earlier years and is somehow getting more handsome – why do men always get more handsome as they age??!), your siblings, mom, and of course our soon-to-be blog-baby!! I love being inspired by your new projects. I have knit many things that I never would have but for your blog. I have also learned a lot about being Canadian (I’m from NY) and love my Canadian brothers/sisters even more.

Thank YOU for every moment for the last 13 years–you are part of my life too–I feel like a part of your family–I am invested in your knitting and in everything that you do–I watched your lovely daughters grow up and now we have a wee little one coming and we can be part of you being a grandmother now! Keep at it–we all love you!!

I found your bog just a few years ago, after stumbling upon Knitting Rules at my local library. You kept me company in two different strange cities while I was with my mom who had been hospitalized for extended periods twice in 2014. I had known how to knit, sorta, for a long time, had not been serious about learning how to be a knitter until then. Knitting helped me cope with the distress and loneliness. In addition to lots of baby hats and simple blankets, a hoodie for my son, and many adult size hats I have now knitted some easy fair isle hats, added a cabled heart band to the bottom of a baby sweater, and have just about finished an owl hat. The owls still need their button eyes sewn on.
Thank you for blogging, writing, teaching, and being a kind thoughtful person with a wicked sense of humor. I often tell people who remark that I must be really patient to be able to knit that I only have patience because I knit and crochet, otherwise look out!

THANK YOU!! I have to say that it took every bit of resistance to not take pictures of all the various knitted hats, some with lovely cables and stitch patterns, and stripes, and handspun, and acrylic even. The experience was incredible on that end alone.

I hope to still be part of the interknit when another 13 years have gone by. Love to you and your family

Saying thank you, like your blog, never gets worn out–a good thing, as here’s another thank you for another blog post. And I am totally going to steal, ah, quote with full attribution, some of what you said for the next weekly gmail I send to my local knitting group, Prairie Yarn Over.

Stephanie; thank you for so many fun moments of reading, and sharing and being knitters together. I was at the March in DC and I kept talking about you and your blog and the bike rally and how knitters are not a group to be trifled with!!! So many wonderful hats, so much yarn flowing towards justice. Thank you thank you!!

Thank you too Stephanie.
Like another knitter said earlier, you taught me to be a knitter. My mom taught me to knit when I was a child, I relearned in my twenties, but didn’t really become a knitter until I found your blog and found a community. I’ve moved all over the world the last 10 years and having this community has been so grounding. I love your kindness, fairness and sense of what is important – and I love being part of this place even if I rarely comment. Thank you for being there for 13 years sharing with us.

Happy Blogversary!! I have been with you since 2006 and still, every day, the first thing I do when I turn on my computer is check Yarn Harlot to see if there is a new post…I feel like I am a part of your family and that you are a part of mine. I have become a better knitter and spinner and person because of this Blog and your books!
Thank you.

Happy Blogiversary!! I have been with you since 2006 and still, every day, the first thing I do when I turn on my computer is check Yarn Harlot to see if there is a new post…I feel like I am a part of your family and that you are a part of mine. I have become a better knitter and spinner and person because of this Blog and your books!
Now back to knitting that sweater I WILL finish before winter is over!! Thank you.

Happy to be part of the legion. I turn to your blog first pretty much every day, whether at home doing daily things or on holiday. I love your humour and I love your willingness to be open and to fight for hings that matter to you. Congratulations on making it to 13 and we look forward to whatever comes next.

Happy Blogiversary Stephanie! You remain the most gracious person I know. You’ve created a very special place here at The Blog. Thank you for sharing your family and your knitting with us all these years. Like previous commenters, I look forward to every blog post. All best wishes to you and your family.

This is the 1st time I’ve replied to your blog, though I have been reading it for the past 4 years since I took up knitting again. (actually, it’s the first time I’ve replied to ANY blog, and it took me a while to figure it out. Guess how old I am!)

I want you to know that I enjoy your writing (both in the blog & in your books, a few of which reside on my shelves). Your voice comes through very clearly and is always interesting. Your sense of humor is an integral part of your voice and I really appreciate it!

I had the opportunity to hear you at the Columbia Flock & Fiber Festival in Hood River this past fall, and enjoyed your lecture as well. You obviously were feeling under the weather (coughing) but presented as a true professional. My friend & I learned a lot from you that morning!

So, Happy 13th and thanks for all of your work! It has made a difference to my knitting life here in Oregon, USA!

Oh, Stephanie, it’s gonna take you a long, LONG time to get through all these comments. But I want you to know that every weekday, one of my first thoughts when I sit down at my desk is, “I hope Stephanie has posted something today!” You always, always, make my day better. You are making the world better, too. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

You just made me cry, but thank you anyway! When I restarted knitting (about 15 years ago) I had no idea how much it would get wound up with the digital revolution. Now I wonder how anyone ever knitted without the inspiration, companionship, and information that comes from the cyberknitting world. Thanks again for being a pioneer and friend.

Happy Blogiversary! I have loved reading your blog all these years – and the knitlist before – and getting to know this community. Love what you have done for us all. You have made the internet, and yes, the world, a better place. Thank you!

We love you too, Stephanie!!!! It’s one of the great pleasures of my day to take a moment and read your blog posts. Your ability to turn something I would pass up into a memorable, charming story worth reading is something I marvel at. Your knitting photography is great (your other photography is great, too, but I especially like the yarn). Your dedication to the PWA Foundation and Doctors Without Borders is inspiring. Thank you so much for everything you do!

I should not read your blog at work. All of it is wonderful, but I nearly lost it when I got to the part about Tupper, and remembered a conversation with you about my Gayl and your Tupper and how you understood exactly what my loss was and I got a deeper glimpse into your loss. So much else I’d like to comment but I really don’t want to start crying here. Much love and thanks to you for how very much you give to all of us.

I want to let you know that because of this blog:
1. I now know jewels like Baadeck Yarns and Fleece Artist exist
2. I got some courage and inspiration to try knitting socks and started a lace shawl (both projects are not yet finished, but hey, they’re started)
3. I now know that I am not the only one to pack an entirely unreasonable amount of yarn / cross stitch projects with me while traveling
4. That I am not alone in totally understanding this – “that making things is important, that creation is human, that love can be contained and transferred in handmade things, that knitting and creating and transforming are important parts of who we are… all those things are vital.” Sunday was my niece’s 12th birthday, and when we talked on FaceTime, she started off wearing the sweater her nannie (my mother) made and gave her, and then HAD to model the AWESOME cowl I made for her (“Auntie Cheryl, I just LOVE the colours!”). My husband and I live in Oklahoma, she lives in Nova Scotia, and knowing that a little piece of knitting can give her joy and the knowledge that we love her and miss her — well, that’s part of the magic of creating things. Oh, and the fact that she is the next generation (4th at least) to be a knitter is awesome too.

Thank you so much for everything you do and how beautifully you talk about the importance of knitting. I’ve been reading this blog for about ten years now, and, as funny as it may sound, hearing about the relationships you have with your daughters and with your family has meant a lot to me in building good relationships with my mom and my sisters. I am always looking out for you in airports in hopes of one day being able to buy you a beer or get a sock picture! 🙂

Also ” that making things is important, that creation is human, that love can be contained and transferred in handmade things, that knitting and creating and transforming are important parts of who we are” is going on a post it where I can see it every day. Especially in light of recent political changes I find I am clinging to the community I have, in all its forms. This helps.

Thank you. Thank you for the wedding surprise, the baby news, the poems from Tupper (especially the one about the yellow house)(I hope I got that right), the trials and joys of children, the awesomeness that is Joe, the endearing and enduring friendship that is Ken, the generosity and kindness and humanness that you have and have spread to both your physical family and your Interknit family. Love you from the bottom of my handknit socks.

I started reading your blog to learn about knitting. Now I read it like letters from a friend (and I’m a pretty slack one who rarely writes back). Thank you for sharing your family and life, and thoughts on being a good person, and thoughts about being human. It’s a part knitspiration and part humourtarian.

Thank YOU! I am one of the late-comers, and last November I tremendously enjoyed a “yarnharlot reading marathon”, knitting two entire sleeves catching up with almost 13 years of your fabulous, enjoyable, moving, instructive and generally wonderful blog and have not missed a blog entry since. All the best to you and your family!

When I found your blog, it was a few years old, but I read it back, every letter of it… and I keep reading it… So much it is even in my BA thesis… Thank you for everything, the insights, the advices, the experiences, the laughs, teh tears, and everything else you shared with us.

Because of who you are and what you write and the way you write with understanding and compassion, I check every day to read your thoughts and to see what you wish to share and what you are working on. I usually check the first thing in the morning when I turn on my computer or the last thing before I shut it down. It is similar to the sunshine coming through my windows or the birds chirping outside the window. Your words are uplifting, thoughtful and balanced not only because I knit … but I do so love! seeing the things that you knit! Love the Blog!

I don’t comment here often but I had to respond today. First of all, Happy Blogaversary!

I completely agree with you about our reach and influence. With a blog audience the size of yours, the number of people you may impact is larger than small blogs, but we ALL are capable of making a difference.

I no longer have a blog following that I am aware of, but I still write for me. I began a new blog after grandchildren were born and a random search on one of their names linked to my blog. I hadn’t tagged that photo so the match spooked me. It was probably all for naught, but it took weeks to make that connection disappear. I deleted posts in my old blog and began a new one which is much more a journal for me of projects that I make.

The pleasant surprise for me is that when I take a class locally, often someone makes the connection and comments in a way that tells me they’ve read my entries! A Copic marker instructor still kids me that one of my entries has more hits than hers on the same subject which she taught.

My bottom line on all of this is that while it is important to shine a light on a need, in our daily lives we need to simply shine, period. Smile. Be kind. And for most of us here, knit, obviously.

I’m just here to add my voice to the chorus. Thank you for your time and your honesty and your courage. You’ve made a difference in the world and shown us that we can do the same, one stitch at a time.

Just adding my thank you for the blog. I first found you in the library and later found your blog by accident. I was trying to find some arcane information ( I think it was about cables and why they always twist when you put them in back) one night, and there you were. I’ve been reading ever since, and bought several books, especially ‘Knitting Rules’ for new knitters.
My daughter and I saw you in Conifer, Co during a very difficult weekend for you. My heart went out to you when you wrote about it later. We all have people like Tupper in our lives, who we miss and cherish at the same time.
So glad you blog and let us share your knitting, life and family with us.
P.S. I have been hoping you won’t break a wrist or finger with your new found hobby of skiing. I’ve had a few sprains. I’ve been thinking ‘fall gently, fall gently’.

I had never heard of a blog before I heard of yours. You were my first. And you were also the face of public knitting for a lot of us. Before Ravelry, all we had was blogs. Thank you for being there. Thank you for doing this. Love and hugs.

Never was I prouder of anything I’ve knit than when my daughter-in-law wore her PussyHat during the DC March. It was truly thrilling to see the sea (pun) of pink hats of all shapes and sizes. And some of your homies came to march with us! Just goes to show that while it may be cold outside up north, it’s truly warm inside. Congrats on your anniversary and for letting me be part of the family.

I have so enjoyed your company through this blog over the years. Thank you for presenting life in a rich, interesting way. There are times when I take the opportunity to time travel back to what you and your family were doing years ago… the saga of Mr. (later Sir) Washie, the multiple repairs to the house, the joy of seeing you make your way around your city and your world. Thank you for opening us up to a bit of your life, for your honesty and your honest emotions.

I love when I meet other YH loving’ knitters, and we chat about you as if you are an out-of-town friend. “And then she said,…” You cast-on your blog, and knit all of us into a lovely, intricate, lace shawl of prays, laughter, tears, with a dropped stitch or two along the way. We are forever grateful.

I knit several pussycats, and have just received a request from my sister for 3 more. Knitting has helped to define this moment, and I could not be more proud!

THANK YOU Stephanie for sharing your thoughts and life and family with us. You will never know how you helped me three years ago when I was in a deeply sad place. Your humor and kindness helped me so, so much. My favorite blog post ever was your June 2, 2014 post: “The reason for the divorce.” You are the best.

Happy Blogversary! I love this blog & it makes my day whenever you post & I miss it when you’re busy. Thank you for your honesty when things go great and when things don’t and you have to rip out. I feel better about my mistakes and allllll the ripping out I do because if the yarn harlot does it then I’m ok too. Thanks for all the sharing you’ve done over the years!!!

What an archive of your life as a knitter. 13 years of great writing, adventurous living, thoughtful observations of life and people. Love the harlot blog. So many high water marks that made me laugh out loud, well up, or hold my breath with knitterly excitement as a critical project comes perilously close to running out of yarn (or time).
But is anything funnier than Joe getting stuck in the truck?

I can’t say anything different from what others have said, but this is my voice saying, Thank you. Thank you for sharing your life and family. Thank you for instructing and inspiring knitters, mothers, sisters (brothers and fathers too I suppose) and citizens of the world encouraging us to be better and to be real.
Happy Blogversary!

Though my political leanings often fall into a vastly different realm than yours, and I have different experiences of holidays and social events and so on, The Blog is the only one I read. I try others, but it’s just incomparable. The Blog is my secular grounding point, when I need something beautiful on a human level, to be reminded that people are inherently not just good but very good. I pray we both live a good long time, and that The Blog is around for the better part of that good long time, because it helps me get by. I think a lot of other people think so, too. You are a truly lovely human, Stephanie. Happy Blogiversary.

Same here. And sometimes we donate to causes near and dear to Steph’s heart (Rally) even though we here in the US can’t take tax deductions for the donations. We do it because your writing encourages us to be better people.

Happy Blogiversary, Stephanie! Yours was one of the first blogs I found when I was a brand new knitter (only about a year after you began The Blog) and I can’t imagine being a knitter without it. Thank you – and please keep doing it!

I found your blog when Amazon included one of your books in a search I did for books on crochet. It intrigued me and I clicked on it. Suffice it to say I became a fan of your humor and that, of course, led me to your blog. I came late to the party but just recently have been reading from the beginning. This community and you are terrific and there are no words to describe how proud and thrilled I was to see all those hats (!) at the March. Thank you for giving us this blog and all the many moments

I love Joe’s “Interknit” word and marvel that of all the knitting punsters I know, not one of them ever thought that one up–but it is highly fitting that Joe got it first. It rightfully belongs to this space you all create and share.

You and your whole family have done so much good. You have required the best in ourselves while being what we all want to live up to when we grow up: gracious, kind, compassionate, and all this and artistic, too. Happy Blogiversary!

It’s an honor to be part of “the blog”. Thank you for giving us knitters a blog to read and grow from. A few years ago I was at Rhinebeck , and I think you posted something about being among your “people” -us knitters…and I finally felt I had a “people”. Thanks for the last 13, here’s to 13+ more!

Sorry I missed the actual day. I just want to say “thank you” to you. You have no idea the number of times you’ve lifted me up. I’m glad you stuck around, shared your life, listened to us, inspired creativity and determination. Best wishes to you and all your family, “thank you”.

Yours often feels like the voice of sanity and maturity to me in an increasingly insane and immature world. Thanks for holding the space for that to exist and for me to be part of. I cannot express enough how much this means to me. Many blessings on your 13th blog anniversary. May there be many, many more.

thank you for letting us share parts of your life and that of your family. I have been reading you since before the blog, shared your girls growing up and all the joys and sorrows along the way. It’s a priceless gift you’ve given us, making friends around the world, or as one of my friends say “framily”. We are all richer for it

Happy Anniversary! January 23rd was my baby sister’s 50th birthday and we had a family holiday to celebrate. And it was wonderful. What a bonus that part of my knitting ‘family’ celebrated a special anniversary the same day! It’s nice to share celebrations. My sister’s youngest child was born on my 40th birthday and he and I love that we share our birthday-even if at 11 he won’t let me kiss him anymore

Happy Blogoversary! It’s hard to believe it’s been 13 years. Thank you for sharing your adventures in knitting, travel, and life. It’s been comforting to learn that swatches don’t just lie to me. I will admit to engaging in some of the same denialist thinking about the gauge being achieved and eventual size of a project. While I have never thrown out multiple cups of coffee in quick succession while traveling, I can certainly empathize. I have thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Washie, the furnace wars, Kinnearing, the bike rally, that time you wrote in an isolated cabin in winter and hiked miles for beer, watching the girls become wonderful women, learning a lot about Canada and Canadians, learning the finer points of travel knitting, and much more than could be listed here.

Thank you for sharing yourself with us. We love you!! Here’s to at least another 13 years of blogging!

Thank you for showing beginning knitters that even the most experienced knitters make mistakes. While no longer a newbie I made a doosey of a mistake this weekend and thought of you. I was finally knitting something for myself…a lovely top down cable sweater. After knitting a few inches, found a hole at the beginning so ripped it out and started again. Okay..no biggy. However, proceeded to knit the cables, fiddly left and right cable increases and finally got to where I put the sleeves on waste yarn. Except I had forgotten the one of the shoulder seams! That’s right..only 3 not 4! I almost lost it, but then remembered something similar happening to you and you posted about it. You showed us that even the best of the best make mistakes and you did so with good humor. So I ripped it out. Waited a day, and cast on. <3.

There aren’t enough ways to say thank-you for all you’ve done,dear Harlot, but the blog has come close to covering it all. You are a national treasure, as June Callwood would have said.
You may smile at this…one of the first blog entries I read (May 30, 2005, the birthday post) had a picture of Amanda wearing the same little striped Mothercare set that had been passed down through my daughters & my son, AND you said something that resonates with me, that time playing with our babies had been more important than the time we had spent making “fancy-ass” purées instead of mashing a steamed apple with a fork. it made me think; it made me sentimental about those days with littles at home, and it made me laugh. I was well and truly hooked. Thank-you. Merci mille fois.

Happy Blogaversary! Thank you for 13 years of making me laugh and cry. 13 years of letting me know that everybody makes mistakes, and its OK. 13 years of reminding me that some projects need a time out, maybe forever. 13 years of letting us get to know your family and friends, watching your girls grow up, and Henry and Lou and all the new babies. 13 years of modeling some parenting of teenagers, just when i wanted to strangle mine. 13 years of teaching us how, together, we can make a big difference. Really big.
Someone showed me your blog in its early days, in my early days of knitting. I think I actually said, “Blog? What’s a blog?” Now, when I sit down in the evening and check my feed, and your blog shows up , I get a little giddy, like its a message from an old friend. And that’s what you are to many of us here in The Blog, though we may have never met you.
So, thank you for being our friend.
Eileen

This blog is the perfect combination of knitting & family and friends with lots in common – – it really is quite a lot like home for those of us who stop by to read and laugh and even cry when needed. It’s like we have this great 1st cousin who we have grown up with – share stories with and love & understand one another. It’s “home” . . . so, thank you for giving us this great family knitterly landing place.

Happy blogiversary! Yours is the first blog I check on my feed, and I’m always thrilled when there’s a new post to read. For all the wonderful people who comment, there are many, many more like m who don’t often comment but always, always read. Thank you for making us all part of your community.

I found you when I learned to knit, in 2005. Your blog has been my home page since, and thus the first thing I see when I settle down to read the news of the day. We were both born during the summer of ’68, and I happen to share a birthday with Megan and you share yours with my sister. I even have an Uncle Tupper, although mine was known as Uncle June! So many connections, both personal and blog-related 🙂 You have even been both an inspiration and a relief, at times, as I yank my lovely 20 year old daughter along the trail to adulthood. Many thanks for “the Blog”.

Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into the blog and your books. I still smile every time I think of the squirrel battles. My daughter sends a special thank you for an award winning science fair project idea — fiber identification from an essay in Knitting Rules (I think).

and a huge Thank You for my expanded vocabulary — no, not THAT way!!! The quotes I use now: “That was demoralizing”; “Oh, you are THAT mother” (water balloons, anyone?); the other “Wife at the music awards” who said to her husband: “You didn’t just say something stupid about knitting, did you?”; the trek for Guinness and TP; — and there are so many others! Thank you for the author talks I’ve been able to attend (Audrey’s bookstore – 35-40 of us crammed in the basement for “At Knit’s End”) and the Doubletree in Edmonton last fall … I’m still going to bug Olds College to try to get you to teach at Fibre Week some June soon, I hope – Thank you for all that you have brought to The Blog, Lang may ye reek, ma’am! (Oh, and click the Printer? so appropiate!!

Happy Blogiversary!
I have been a reader since 2005. Your blog and with it your words, stories and pictures (with and without all kinds of people holding your socks) has accompanied me on my move from the US back to Germany, then back for a brief stint to the US, and back across the pond. Thank you!

Thank you for all your humor. I have told everyone about Sir Washie when they complain about their new, energy saving washers that aren’t nearly as good as their old one. I have an old washer made in 1992 that I hope will continue chugging along as long as Sir Washie did. Mine doesn’t have a name. With bows to you perhaps it could be Washie II (I’m in the US so using Sir would be a little much).

Happy Blogiversary! You are so inspiring to me. I love your writing style and the things you write about and the things you knit and the way you share your life with us. (I tell people all the time that you are my blogging idol.)

I’ve only been with you since around 2010 or so, but I have a whole wardrobe of hand-knit socks, thanks to you! (I’ve even met you in person and showed you my first handmade sock -complete with knots on all the stripes). Your kindness, warmth and creativity have been amazing. Thank you for sharing your lovely family with us. I read the blog aloud to my kids, snorting with laughter or on the verge of tears. That one person could make such a difference in so many lives is nothing short of remarkable. Thank you. Knit on!

I learned to knit socks through your easy-to-understand instructions, so a big thank you for that! The other biggie is following a blogger who has the same basic political views as I do. It’s so disappointing to be reading someone’s blog and then discover the blogger is totally on the other side of the fence – it just spoils it for me. Thanks for all you do!

Never commented before, but tears at the thought of your lovely girl thinking of The Blog finding out about her happy news. I have loved your writing and your heart and your knitting and I wish you well. Thank you so much for it all!

Don’t know if I’ve been reading for the whole 13 years, but for most of it. I’ve met you a couple of times, on book tours and at Sock Summit 2009, and been inspired and energized and kept on with my knitting with a little more zest. Thanks for all you’ve done for knitting and for knitters and crafters. I’ve donated to MSF/DWB and to your Ride. This year I doubled the number for the ride. Keep on riding, and writing, and blogging.

Thank you! Your blog is bookmarked on the top of my computer screen so I don’t miss a posting, I’ve read all of your books and I’ve lost count of the number of socks I’ve made using your basic pattern. And somehow, I don’t think I’m alone. Thank you.

We love you, too. I sometimes wonder if it’s weird for you, that you are one of my/our best friends, when you haven’t even met most of us. But you are family! We are so grateful to be included in your lives. To see your Christmas post, with all those beautiful, happy, *loving* people, and feel that in some crazy way they are a part of *my* family…. it’s wonderful.

Meeting you and taking a class with you last year was #2 on my Bucket List (surpassed only by ‘go and live in France’), and you are just as wonderful IN REAL LIFE as you are on your blog. I’m still blown away at you batting my proffered handshake away, and saying “No no, we HUG our friends here” and then proceeding to do so <3 You are literally (literally literally) the nicest person I know, and I'm so happy to be able to say that I actually know you IN REAL LIFE now 🙂

I don’t post often but am a faithful reader. I have laughed out loud, giggled, cried and been filled with happiness in the last 10 years as I read along with you.
I am so proud to be part of this knitterly community and part of this accepting, inclusive family. Here’s to thirteen more years and more. ❤

Happy 13th Anniversary to you
Happy 13th Anniversary to You
Your blog makes me smile
Your blog Keeps me grounded in Knitting
HAPPY 13th ANNIVERSARY TO YOU!
AND MANY MANY MORE…..
All the best to you and your Family

Thank you, Stephanie. I love the connection I feel with you. I have read you for most if not all of those 13 years. This may or may not be the first time I have commented. It’s like we might at any time sit down with our knitting and a beer and continue our conversation even though we’ve never seen each other in our lives. Maybe we will. And we’ll know just what to say.❤️❤️

The blog loves you too! I’ve read through being engaged, getting married, moving jobs, moving cities, having a baby, moving cities again… While so much on the internet seems transient, just a phase, your blog is one I’ve been constant with for over a decade! Looking forward to many more years of it too!

(P.s.we met back when you came to IKnit Day in London – I was the one with the huge pair of red socks I’d knitted for my new husband!)

Thank you for the hours and hours and hours of entertainment, education and knitting inspiration! My favorite blogs are Joe in the stuck in the trunk, any coffee misadventure and the Canada Day posts. And the knitting of course. Here’s to many more years of blogging!

Your’s is the only blog I read. And I read it regularly for many years now and I check often if there are news from you. I like your writing and I think I like your family and how you deal with each other (as far as I can judge from your blog posts 😉 ). Im German and Living in Munich, Germany and there’s no German or other blog I read regularly. I hope you will continue to write for many many years.

Happy Blog-aversary, Stephanie! I’ve been at my computer, sending emails and listing phone numbers of representatives I need to contact over the craziness that is happening in my country, and decided enough for now. And to make myself happy, I turned to you.

So, thank you for that. You’ve inspired me, taught me, made me laugh and cry. I DO hope to randomly run into you one day. And we WILL have that beer. I love your blog, and will read until the day you decide you don’t want to write anymore. Which, I hope, is never. xoxoxo

No, THANK YOU! ..for including all of us in all the fun, family, knitting, and hope you bring to us whenever you post. My favorite post has still got to be “Fallen”, which is so much like something my DH and I would go through. I re-read it every year, and it makes me laugh not just at Joe’s & your antics, but at my own silly situations. Keep ’em coming, I believe we’ll all still be tuned in for another 13!

I’ve been reading for a long time, but seldom comment, and wanted to wish you a very happy blogiversary! You have done so much to make knitting public and knitters proud – not that we didn’t always know we were a force to be reckoned with – so thanks a bunch for educating the muggles.

Happy 13!!!
I love reading your blog, and am sad on the days that you take care of your “real life” stuff and there is nothing new to ponder with you!
I feel like we are friends because also living in Toronto, I can picture all your location references, and can commiserate with your weather woes! One day I hope to meet you in the streets “in real life”!!! Until then I will just pretend that I know you!!!

Words can’t begin to describe how much I’ve enjoyed your blog, and the space it takes up in my life. There are no people like knitters, and you have been a leader in our wonderful world. It’s a privilege to know you & your loved ones! Thanks again, and Happy 13th!

Happy blogaversary! My favorite post is still Joe getting stuck in the car in the snow. It’s amazingly easy to find, and I do so when I need a laugh. It’s the only one that pops up when you search BMW. I think that says something about you, and the blog. And it’s a good something.

Thanks for everything all these years, and I’m looking forward to many more!

I just realized that you made me in to a knitter.
I learned to knit as a child. Knit in my teens (big sweaters on big needles in the 80s) and then picked knitting up again about 7 years ago. Now I knit all the time. On the train, in the car with a headlight/headlamp (as a passenger and in the dark!), at breaks at work, on holidays. I buy knitting books, am on Ravelry, have a bit of a stash and I challenge myself with new challenging patterns. I feel I belong in a community of knitters. And it’s all because of you.
Thank you.

Thanks Stephanie. My eyes are wet too like some who’ve already commented. Congratulations on your 13th Blogaversary and I hope they’ll be many more. It’s a cliche I know but you have literally changed my life. I am a Knitter now.

Happy blogversary. You are a constant presence in our lives as well.
( I rarely comment as I can’t imagine that you can read all your responses. )
But welcome to Grammy-hood. There’s nothing like it.
I’m not sure if you are a good influence on me or if you just help me justify some of my crazy compulsive knitting/yarn buying. But regardless, you are a good writer and you act as a support group for my knitting nuttiness.
Hope to run into you at a knit-fest somewhere or on the slopes. Keep the faith.

I just wanted to say thank you for your blog!
I’m a newcomer here, and I learned about your blog because of a school project and an article that was written about you. You are so funny, so kind, and you say exactly what everyone in this community knows to be true about knitting and knitters. This article absolutely and definitely proves the thesis of my project- knitting connects, knitting inspires change, knitting is a manifestation of the 21st century’s changes and continuities. Happy Blogiversary!!!!

Thanks from a Canadian in Shanghai. You connect me with knitting, and thinking like a Canadian, and being my best (or at least better) self. I, too, logged in to see what the YH world thought of pussyhats. I’ll be knitting them for the next 4 years for all my USA-in laws. My heart breaks at Quebec City. More hats and more knitting is my only remedy for the despair.

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